𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

You can tell a lot about a man by the risks that he takes, and Andy Burnham is one of modern politics’ great gamblers. The Prime Minister is living as if Nigel Farage and Reform UK do not pose a mortal danger to his party and his premiership. Sir Keir Starmer arrived in Downing Street with a massive majority but talked as if Mr Farage was on the verge of grabbing control of Britain. Like a plant under hydroponic lighting, Reform flourished with the attention, shooting to the top of the polls.

Mr Burnham has no intention of handing the insurgent party millions of pounds’ worth of airtime. In his recent conference speech, the six times he mentioned “reform” were in the context of reforming social care, the energy market, Right to Buy, leasehold rules and the electoral system. But the PM is not only denying Reform the fertiliser of publicity, he is governing as if it does not threaten to oust Labour from multitudes of its heartland constituencies. This is despite an analysis in September by More in Common finding Reform is on course to take 95 seats from Labour.

A Labour leader who lay awake at night worrying about Mr Farage would not talk in public about his desire to see Britain return to the EU as a member state. At this month’s EU-UK summit in Brussels he is expected to agree to take rules from the bloc on food standards to avoid customs checks. He is betting Britain will not see this as a shameful surrender of sovereignty.

Despite fierce pressure to invest in the armed forces, Mr Burnham refuses to be rushed into coming up with the cash to upgrade the military – even though there are constant reports about the growing threat from Russia. Most notably, Labour has scrapped its plan to make care workers from overseas in this country wait longer to get the right to live here permanently. The measures originally put forward by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood would have allowed the PM to claim he was tackling the future multi-billion pound cost to the taxpayer of the “Boriswave” era of post-Brexit migration.

This signals Mr Burnham is more worried about rebellions in his own ranks than attacks from Reform. It suggests he is increasingly confident that if he kindles goodwill on the wider Left then tactical voting will deny Reform victories and deliver him another term as PM.

Not long ago, there were warnings that then-Mayor of Greater Manchester Mr Burnham would lose to Reform if he stood in a by-election. He won Leave-voting Makerfield by 9,231 votes – did this convince him he can defeat Reform in a national contest? Reform has a mighty war chest and devoted footsoldiers, while Mr Burnham presides over an economy beset with inflation. The challenge for Mr Farage is to convince voters they cannot take the risk of giving Labour another term.

Perhaps it is down to distant memories of the Norman invasion, but it is disconcerting when you discover one of the greatest national treasures is quite French. Dame Kristin Scott Thomas has been adored since 1994’s Four Weddings and a Funeral but she secured superstar status with her screen-capturing performance as the head of MI5 in Slow Horses. She has now won a position in public life bordering on royalty as the star of this year’s John lewis Christmas advertisement.

She epitomises poised English elegance. The fact she is also treasured by the French is like discovering the Bayeux Tapestry was spun in Somerset.

She trained at one of France’s most prestigious theatre schools, had major roles in French language films, is a Chevalier of the Légion d’honneur and lived there for 42 years. When asked in her most recent Times interview whether she feels more English or French, she said: “I still feel completely in the middle. Choosing one is like abandoning one child to pick another.” Before Andy Burnham heads to Brussels this month to strike a deal with the EU he should enlist her as part of his negotiating team. Not only can she switch effortlessly between languages, her Slow Horses role gives her a brilliant understanding of spycraft and opportunities for ruthless power machinations.

The danger for Mr Burnham, of course, is that if Britons sees her by his side they might conclude they would rather have her running the country.

When I heard that “mogging” has been crowned word of the year by the Collins English Dictionary I wondered what Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg had been up to that merited the creation of a brand new verb. Apparently it derives from an acronym in bodybuilding culture – AMOG – which stands for “Alpha Male Of the Group”. Now it means “the act of outshining or outperforming someone or something”.

Sir Jacob may or may not pump iron but it can be argued the Moggster is a “mogging king”. A multitude of fellow Conservatives lost their seats in the disastrous 2024 election and have vanished – and many new Tory MPs have yet to make any indentation on national life. But Sir Jacob has harnessed an arsenal of digital technology to make the case of classical conservativism in the 21st century.

For the Tories to win back the country in time for the next election, his comrades need to communicate with the same conviction and optimism.

A couple and their delightful daughters ventured to California this summer and were enchanted by the coastal beauty, the wonder of the national parks and the hospitality of the locals. But while in an otherwise lovely area they were taken aback to see on the wall of public toilets – in much the way we see defibrillators dotted along high streets – a box of medicine to give to anyone in the throes of an overdose.

The chaos, rage and acrimony of recent American history has unfolded against the backdrop of a terrifying opioid crisis – around 105,000 people died of “drug-involved overdose” in 2023 – which has brought addiction and sudden bereavement to hundreds of thousands of families across this mighty nation.

Seventy years ago today, British paratroopers dropped on Egypt’s El Gamil airfield as the Suez Crisis reached a new intensity. Britain and France’s military successes were followed by humiliation when a furious President Dwight Eisenhower forced a withdrawal.

The US threatened to devalue the pound by selling sterling bonds; the sun sank on the UK’s imperial age and the country learned it could not count on American support for military adventures. Seven decades on, with US commitment to NATO uncertain and Britain’s economy threatened by Middle East turmoil, we are still living in the Suez age.